Who runs it
.ai is administered by Government of Anguilla, and its expiry process is an extension with high renewal costs and a two-year cycle.
What happens after expiry
Registrations are typically for two years minimum rather than one.
The grace period
There is a grace period after expiry, though it has historically been shorter than gTLD norms.
Recovery after that
Recovery options are more limited than for .com, and pricing throughout is considerably higher.
Worth knowing about .ai
Renewal costs for .ai are well above gTLD rates and the two-year minimum means a larger single charge. That larger charge is more likely to fail on an expired card and more likely to be queried before payment.
What is true of every extension
- The domain stops resolving the moment it expires. Website and email both stop at once, because both depend on the same records.
- Your registrar panel may still show the domain as active while the rest of the internet already treats it as gone.
- Every stage after expiry costs more than renewing did, and the last stage cannot be undone at any price.
Registry policies change. The shape of the process is stable, but confirm exact windows with your registrar before relying on a number.